Deafening Silence - Part V

Continuation of Part IV and the last part.

“There.” Alpris slapped the fat joint onto the table in front of him.
He took one look at it, then back up at her.
“Where’s the rest of the weed?” he said.
“All you need is one joint for now.”
He slammed his fist on the table. Bette, the calico mascot of the family, glanced up with fright from her bed in the corner of the lounge. Her yellow eyes watched with caution.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Alpris soothed, her pulse racing in her ears. Bette tucked her head back to rest.
“Look.” Alpris turned back to him. “Do you want the bloody weed or not?”
“Of course I do,” he spat.
“Then be grateful and smoke the f*****g thing.”

 

Within minutes, the smell of burning plastic leaked under the front door. Alpris sat waiting on the sofa in the next room, nursing a much-needed glass of Cabernet Merlot. She did not need alcohol to fuel her deal, but she needed to soothe her anxiety, to take the edge off.  It was times like these she was grateful to be an only child. Everything of the night was a goddamn blur. She had no control anymore. But it was for a good cause, right?
And the voices were always right.
Interrupting her thoughts, there was a loud, animated cough from the deck, followed by the barely-audible sound of someone sucking desperately from a joint.  Alpris raised the glass to her mouth and took another rejuvenating sip. The rich, smooth flavour of grapes and alcohol swirled in her mouth then slid with ease down her throat and cast a warm glow in her stomach.
Not long now...

“Al-pris! Uurrrgh...”
It was time.
Alpris placed her empty wine glass carefully on the windowsill, swept her lap of non-existent dust and stood. She felt a wave of something wash through her. What was it? Excitement? Optimism? Shock at her own insanity?
“Alllllprrrriisssss! Help!”
“I’m coming,” Alpris half sing-sang as she took her time striding to the front door. She opened it with a playful swing and was greeted by the overpowering stench of melted plastic and the subtle peppery stench of marijuana.
“Now look what you’ve done, Alpris. You’re crazy, he’s going to die.”
“Oh well! He deserves it. So be it.”
The joint hovered in his outstretched hand, with just a remaining one or two drags before it were finished. Alpris let out a long whistle.
“Boy, you really knocked that back, didn’t you?”
His hand shook and he dropped the joint. It cast a few jittery orange amber sparks across the deck floor before it died. A mist of distant smoke rose up around it and he watched them curiously.
He’s tripping bad, Alpris decided.
“Get up,” she said, feeling a sense of power rising within her body. Her voice had lost all giddiness.  
“I can’t... hey, Alpris, is that you?”
“Get up, you lousy son of a b***h.” She yanked him up fiercely under his arm, and he sagged against her with uncertainty. She let out an exasperated sigh.
It felt like ten years dragging him inside, closing the door and laying him on the Oriental rug in the sitting room. He was high... really high. His eyes kept darting from side to side, and occasionally his dry, cracked lips would tremble and release an unfamiliar tune. After some light kicking and whistling from Alpris, his wandering eyes finally settled on her. He squinted up at her.
“Get me some cold water,” he croaked.
“As cold as the water when you forced me to shower with you?” Alpris challenged.
Jack paused; he began to mumble a protest, but she hushed him.
“You know, I was only eight,” she continued, walking back and forth in a smooth cut line along his side. Then she knelt right by his ear:
“How does it feel to be mind-fucked?” she whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
“Too late.”
Then it all tumbled out of her. After all these years, releasing the toxins she held inside that poisoned her soul and made her the rotten, alienated, lost, hurt and lonely person she was. It was like that of a cigarette; inhaling the nicotine and exhaling the smoke. It leaves your body, but the chemicals would have done damage upon consumption. She began cursing him, ridiculing him and shouting at him, dictating all the years of abuse that ruined her completely. Yet it didn’t quite satisfy her enough to do so.
“The showering, having to change clothes while you watched, the emotional TORTURE you unleashed? It’s all over, Jack, okay? It’s finished.”
Several times he tried to cut in, but she silenced him with a single punch to the head.  His eyes lolled back. Beads of sweat dripped down his temples.
“Yeah, it’s not very nice is it?”
She started to feel the first few zings of satisfaction rolling through her veins, encouraging her. The smell of the DMT lingered in the air, and he let out a loud cough. His eyes were bloodshot.
“Please, Alpris, please,” he begged.
“No! I HATE you!”
There was panic all over his face and body, and it leaked from his pores; created an inescapable odour in the atmosphere. She could feel every pulsation of his heart, every morsel of regret but also every morsel of false-regret. It was disgusting.
She stood, swinging her leg back... preparing a final kick. But something stopped her. Something was wrong. What was it?
His hand left the floor and brushed his chest; clutched his blue-and-black flannel shirt pocket. His eyes were squeezed shut in agony. His mouth opened and closed with the difficulty of speech and attempting to control the trip.
“What? What is it?” she asked impatiently. She started to feel herself slipping away again... the familiar silver tendrils stretching across the edges of her sight and making her whole world blur. Her voice sounded strangely far away.
Away in a manger...a baby with a horrible fate...
He stuttered a few times; sounding like he was miles away. Alpris swayed on her feet, her eyes tracing the room. Now, to remember what she was doing. What time was it? What day was it? What was her favourite colour?
Then silence.
Alpris glanced down.

Jack laid perfectly still, his mouth wide open and his eyes fluttered closed. At once, there was an overwhelming sense of peace in the air. It was so overwhelming that Alpris felt suddenly fulfilled and relieved, so she dropped into a lying position by her father and traced his limp chest with a finger.
Her ears buzzed, but there was no noise encouraging it.
The song tumbled from her lips without thought.
“Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more..”
Alpris’ mouth tugged from both sides; an unfamiliar stretch, utilizing the muscles in her cheeks. She smiled for the first time in months.
Her eyes creaked closed. The crickets were loud tonight, and they were the only things that cut into the deafening silence. She remembered every night being quiet, but this one in particular, would be one to remember....
It would be the first night in a while she slept soundly.

Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more.

Misty Louise Nessia ©

Reviews

[Alpris]

Ughhhhhhh, guys I'm changing the entire story but thanks for the lovely feedback!! Love you Sonia :) xoxoxo MWAH

[Sonia Aurelio]

the dialogue is good, but the story itself she likes?

hha hey hun! awesome work! you already know what i think! so MWAHs

[Alpris]

I didn't quite understand that, Eliza, sorry. Could you elaborate?

[Eliza K.]

The quotes are good but evreything else is likesss.....